


Surrogate Family

by LeesaPerrie



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-22
Updated: 2007-01-22
Packaged: 2018-12-17 17:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11856363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeesaPerrie/pseuds/LeesaPerrie
Summary: John's thoughts on family.





	Surrogate Family

**Surrogate Family  
By Leesa Perrie**

When I was twelve my family and I went to stay at my mother's parents for a big family get together over Thanksgiving. My uncle and aunt and two cousins, my parents, my brother and me; we were all there.

It was a big party. My maternal grandparents didn't have a large house, but we all managed to cram into it. It was fun. It was a big adventure.

It was a bigger tragedy.

Fire broke out in the night. Fast and furious, my dad and I were the only survivors. The entire family gone. 

When I was fourteen, my dad died in a car accident, and I ended up in foster care, my paternal grandparents having died before I was born and not having any uncles or aunts or cousins on that side. I moved around a few times, and never really settled anywhere. The Air Force put me through college. 

No family; somehow it seemed easier that way. No one for me to worry about, no one to worry about me.

Before they died, my life was a normal happy life. Sure, there were the normal problems of an extrovert child, but I was loved. After they died, my dad struggled. And I struggled right alongside him. It was never the same between us, though he tried, I guess.

A disastrous marriage attempt when I was young and foolish took another family away from me. Sometimes I wonder if I married her for her family as much as for herself. They were a great bunch, but it didn't work out, and I moved on.

In time, my friends became my family, but then I lost those friends through war. I cut myself off then, hiding behind an easy going mask of nonchalance.

Of course, now I have friends again. A family. Though it's been hard; I lost one of them, though I'm sure he's still out there somewhere, alive. But he won't come back, not voluntarily, if our paths ever do cross again.

Lost one, gained one. Came close to losing one or more of them more than once, but we've always pulled through somehow.

The one who is closest is the one I pushed away after a perceived betrayal of trust. We're over that now, though he'll never know how close he is. He's the brother that died in the fire; smart, mouthy, curious, and not really all that adventurous. Not like I was, am. I led my brother into some fine scrapes, just like I do him; my surrogate brother. 

I won't ever tell him that, though. His ego's big enough as it is.

I wonder about his family from time to time. I don't think he's had a lot of positive experience with the whole family thing. Though his sister and he seem to be working on their relationship, judging by the letters and parcels, and his visit last Christmas. I'm pleased for him.

But his parents. He's never said much about them. I asked him once if they were alive still. He said his dad was dead, but he didn't know about his mom. That had shaken me, and Teyla truly found it hard to understand; that he didn't know if his mom was still alive or not. And that he truly didn't seem to care one way or another.

Makes me wonder how bad things must have been to get like that.

Not that I would ever pry, or that he would ever say. He's like me that way. Neither of us talk much about our past, pre-Atlantis. Though bits come through from time to time. Snippets of information, here and there. But nothing too substantial.

When I went to McMurdo, I had no intention of gaining any friends, let alone a family. But then I had no notion of travelling to another galaxy, either.

I still wonder why I came. And sometimes I regret it, mostly, however, I don't. 

I certainly don't regret the family I found here, despite the worries or the pain they can cause me, or I them. 

I may never say it out loud, well, except that once to Teyla, and how embarrassing was that? This is my home, my family, and I'll do whatever it takes to protect this place and to protect them. Whatever it takes; even my death.

The End


End file.
